Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Front Range Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bennett, Colorado 80102
Sunday, January 30, 2011 5:58 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was practicing night instrument approaches in visual flight rules conditions. During the accident approach, he said he was in a right turn and had turned his head to the right to look at some instrumentation. He felt the airplane accelerate and looked at his flight displays, which indicated he was in an extreme unusual attitude, possibly inverted. He attempted to recover from the unusual attitude but realized that he had severe vertigo and spatial disorientation, so he activated the airplane’s ballistic parachute recovery system. After the parachute deployed, the airplane struck terrain in a nose low attitude, sustaining substantial damage. Postaccident inspection of the airplane disclosed no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane. Federal Aviation Administration guidance indicates, that if neither horizon nor surface references exist, the attitude of an airplane must be determined by artificial means from the flight instruments. However, during periods of low visibility and night conditions, the supporting senses sometimes conflict with what is seen; when this happens, a pilot is particularly vulnerable to disorientation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during an instrument approach due to spatial disorientation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/30/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 558 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Bennett |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80102 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 393237N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1042554W |
| Event Location Airport | Front Range Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FTG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 18 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5512 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 555 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 340 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KFTG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5122 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1526 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 0 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KFTG 301255Z AUTO 22003KT 10SM CLR 00/M04 A2 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 28998 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 4 2011 7:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N787CB |
| NTSB Number | CEN11LA164 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CIRRUS DESIGN CORP |
| Aircraft Model | SR22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0787 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 12 2010 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1754 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C126 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FITCH BERGNER AVIATION LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | PARKER |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80138-7830 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Brooks Bergner |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | PARKER |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80138-7830 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | APA |
| Departure City | Englewood |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 530 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FTG |
| Destination City | Watkins |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 3 2011 5:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |